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The Twenty Wonderful Miracles that Tell of Appearance and Reality

Namo Guru Hasa Vajra

Samsara and nirvana are undifferentiableAnd even though you realized thisTo purify your thoughts of their attributesYou gained Buddhahood in just one lifeMighty hero, Shepa DorjeAt your feet, I bow with great respect. (Homage)

Genuine reality transcends birth and deathFalse appearances, birth and death are like watermoonsKnowing this will make it easy toCut through clinging to birth and death as trueSuch an explanation of birth and death—E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (1)

Since no actor exists, neither does activityBut in terms of appearance, they arise dependentlyJust like dream happiness and sufferingAnd in this way, good and bad deeds result in joy and painSuch an explanation of cause, result, and karma—E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (2)

Samsara’s suffering has never existedIts appearance is like agony in a dreamOf the very nature of dependent arisingYou can’t separate appearance from emptinessSuch an explanation of suffering—E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (3)

This human body that has faith, diligence, and prajna,Is so difficult to find, we’re told in many waysBut it too is just a watermoonDependently arisen, this you should knowThis way of thinking about something so hard to get—E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (4)

All phenomena outside and insideDecay each moment, they have no power to remainBut this source of sadness, when examined closelyReveals that impermanence doesn’t exist either!This way of meditating on impermanence—E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (5)

Your friends depend on your enemiesAnd your enemies depend on your friendsAll friends and enemies exist dependentlyJust like the ones that you meet in dreamsThis way of understanding friends and enemies—E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (6)

Without joy, pain is impossibleWithout pain, joy is impossibleThey are the very essence of dependent existenceThey are without the slightest substanceThis way of understanding joy and pain—E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (7)

When there is clean it is because of uncleanAnd unclean itself depends on cleanThey are of the nature of equalityAs they are when they appear in dreamsThis way of eliminating thoughts of clean and filthE ma! What a wonderful miracle! (8)

Gain and pleasure, praise and sweet sounds—these fourThey rely on their opposites for their very existenceWatermoons and dreams, they have no substanceThe eight worldly dharmas are such wonderful miracles! (9)

Being learned depends on being stupidAnd being stupid depends on being learnedBoth are just dreams and watermoonsScholar and fool not different—what a wonderful miracle! (10)From the unborn mind, beyond conceptualityAppearances self-arise, and by themselves are freeJust like waves dissolving into the ocean vastThe basic way of being—what a wonderful miracle! (11)

No one to progress, no path to progress uponNo progressing whatsoever going onBut the way of progressing that we seeFrom cause and condition, arises dependentlyLike the moon dancing on the wavesThis way of traversing the path—what a wonderful miracle! (12)

Nothing to realize, no one to realize itNo realization can be seen, not even a little bitBut our words can describe so carefullyThe way of realization that occurs dependentlyIt is like seeing the moon in a dreamThis way of realizing the fruition—what a wonderful miracle! (13)

Since fundamentally, there are no conceptual elaborations,The basic state transcends all reference points and assertionsYet from this expanse that concepts cannot experienceConceptuality arises in great abundance!This way of explaining genuine reality—E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (14)

The completely false appearances that you seeTranscend both true and false in realityBut to stop you from thinking that they are trueYou are taught that they are falseTo halt this clinging to falsity, it is not explained that they have any realityLiberation from true and false—E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (15)

Genuine reality’s dharmakayaCannot be experienced by conceptual mindBut there is the way the sambhogakayaAppears to the noble bodhisattvasAnd to the various beings, the nirmanakayaAppears in a watermoon’s styleThis way of explaining the three kayas—E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (16)

We have so many thoughts that we are sufferingBut this suffering is just like a dream!And if you can recognize these thoughts’ true natureSuffering will be self-liberated as soon as it appears!The ice so easily melting into waterTransformation explained like that—what a wonderful miracle! (17)

Though the wisdoms five and the kayas threeAre all explained individuallyLike a sound’s impermanence and composite natureKayas and wisdoms are really undifferentiableThis explanation of ultimate union—E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (18)

Through great compassion, the Buddha’s activityAccomplishes the benefit of sentient beingsBut the benefitted ones really don’t exist at allCompletely falsely, benefit performed is as in a dreamThis explanation of Buddha activity—E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (19)

Pure and impure are just imaginary,They do not exist in the expanse of equalityEquality’s expanse encompasses absolutely everythingAnd nothing can ever move from it at allThis explanation of equality—E ma! What a wonderful miracle! (20)

Why are these all so incredibly miraculous?Genuine reality, true being, free of conceptualityAppearances transcending truth and falsityE ma! All phenomena are wonderful miracles!

When you grasp all of thisYou realize Mahayana’s profound meaningWhen you grasp all of thisYou are a worthy vessel for the Great SecretWhen you grasp all of thisYou help everyone in a natural waySo may all you fortunate onesRealize this meaning well!

So was the casual talk of Dechen Rangdröl in the Garden of Translation, near the Great Stupa of Boudhanath, Nepal, on December 17th and 18th, 1997. Translated by Ari Goldfield.Translation copyright 2012, Ari Goldfield.